M&A monitor
Q1 2022
M&A monitor
What European buyers need to know about US deals
Welcome to our Q1 M&A monitor.
In this edition we lead with a special report from our recent M&A forum, where senior dealmakers joined a Transatlantic group of Freshfields partners to discuss what European buyers need to know about US deals. Here we round up the key takeaways, including:
- the critical directors’ duties under Delaware law and how they influence the deal process;
- whether it’s possible to negotiate exclusivity in US M&A;
- managing the role of activists and other institutional shareholders;
- potential landmines in US IP agreements;
- how to approach management and employee retention;
- the challenges of navigating CFIUS;
- the changing US antitrust landscape;
- how deal agreements are adapting to mitigate enhanced regulatory risk;
- issues relating to employee equity awards and shareholder approvals; and
- the evolution of US deal protections.
In this edition, we also examine the growth of SPACs in Asia, with both Singapore and Hong Kong welcoming their first SPAC listings since the start of the year (thanks to some outstanding work from our teams), as well as the usual quarterly deal data.
Our team

Sebastian L. Fain パートナー
New York

Kate Cooper パートナー
London

Dr. Heiner Braun パートナー
Frankfurt am Main

Arun Balasubramanian パートナー
Hong Kong, Singapore

Vinita Kailasanath パートナー
Silicon Valley

Rick van Aerssen Managing partner
Frankfurt am Main, Düsseldorf

Pervez Akhtar パートナー
Dubai

Robert Ashworth パートナー
Hong Kong

Dr. Natascha Doll パートナー
Hamburg, London
Dr. Gunnar Schuster パートナー
Frankfurt am Main

Sundeep Kapila パートナー
London

Dr. Barbara Keil パートナー
Munich

Alan Mason Managing partner
Silicon Valley, Paris

Richard Perks パートナー
Hong Kong, 東京オフィス

Teresa Ko パートナー
Hong Kong

Julian Pritchard パートナー
London

Hanneke Rothbarth パートナー
Amsterdam

Takeshi Nakao パートナー
東京オフィス